Can ( and will) Geno run a 9 or 10 player rotation

[visitingcock]

The question is, what will Geno do with 13 players? Now, let's say for arguments sake, we ended up adding Beers and Chen. The problem here is that all 15 players are great players, all but the last two recruited by Geno and his staff. If no major injuries occur before next November, Geno should take his time with the players coming back from injury, but what does he do when all are healthy. A 15 player, or a 13 player rotation is not possible. Hopefully all these underclassmen can hold on till next year if they don't make the rotation come January, as Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Aubrey, Chen, and possibly Beers will be out of eligibility. Actually, I believe Beers and Azzi may have another year, but I don't think they will stay. Point is, Geno will have a very tough decision, and the more players he can get on the court with decent minutes will make his rotation easier when deciding on the starters and next people off the bench. I hope he is as good as Dawn when letting players know about their future with the program, so they do not get disenchanted and look for a way out. I'm sure Geno values all of them, just hoping he can give them all hope for the future as a Husky. We want all of them, as some of them are our future for the next couple of years and I just want them all to understand that. Go Huskies.

Yes, that disenchantment can be costly and it has cost Dawn one very promising player. Dawn is not perfect. After we took Tehina Paopao in the portal last Spring, then-freshman guard (HG 25), Talaysia Cooper, decided to transfer to Tennessee. She's a good player and was a decent 3-point shooter in hs but not as good from 3 as Paopao - at this point. Unfortunately, she did not decide to transfer until after the deadline and was ineligible to play this year. I wish her well (she is an SC native) and hate that she transferred to the Vols.

 

[Jim]

I think the incoming freshmen have shown that they can put the ball through the hoop, but their starter status and playing time will be dictated by how well they learn to play defense in Geno's system. And until we see otherwise, we don't know how far along the injured players are in the rehab process. So for now, I would say only the known (healthy) players, like Paige, Ash, KK, and Ice are going to get the starts. Jana has been moving well, so I might add her as a starter. Q still has some work to do getting her defense up to the level Geno likes. Until we know more, the frosh and our walking wounded will have to show what they can do at both ends of the floor in order to get minutes.

 

[Rowdy831]

The question is, what will Geno do with 13 players? Now, let's say for arguments sake, we ended up adding Beers and Chen. The problem here is that all 15 players are great players, all but the last two recruited by Geno and his staff. If no major injuries occur before next November, Geno should take his time with the players coming back from injury, but what does he do when all are healthy. A 15 player, or a 13 player rotation is not possible. Hopefully all these underclassmen can hold on till next year if they don't make the rotation come January, as Paige, Azzi, Caroline, Aubrey, Chen, and possibly Beers will be out of eligibility. Actually, I believe Beers and Azzi may have another year, but I don't think they will stay. Point is, Geno will have a very tough decision, and the more players he can get on the court with decent minutes will make his rotation easier when deciding on the starters and next people off the bench. I hope he is as good as Dawn when letting players know about their future with the program, so they do not get disenchanted and look for a way out. I'm sure Geno values all of them, just hoping he can give them all hope for the future as a Husky. We want all of them, as some of them are our future for the next couple of years and I just want them all to understand that. Go Huskies.

Am I missing something with Chen? What need does she fill on this UConn roster? Any time you dig into the Portal you run the risk of losing one of the kids you recruited and any player UConn recruits is good enough to play. I understand Beers. She is a great post and has the inside game that would be worth losing a player over. I still wouldn't myself but that is me.

 

[Cornell Lt]

No. Geno likes a 8-9 max rotation. Beyond that the starters don’t get enough minutes to get any chemistry going.

If he does that, the roster won't be so full the following year

 

[CTBballfan243]

If he does that, the roster won't be so full the following year

The playing time for starters will be 25-30 minutes for the starters and between 15-10 minutes for the others to diivy up. That should keep most happy.

 

[slug25]

Who plays will come down to one thing: can you defend the way Geno insists. Q‘s role this past season should be all you need to know. With a very short bench, he didn’t trust her on the defensive end, even if she could have contributed offensively. Can Ziebel stay in front of a quick guard? Can Strong and Jana defend bigs without fouling? We know what the injured upperclassmen can do in terms of defending, but questions remain about the newcomers as well as Ayanna, Ice and Q.

 

[Bone Dog]

Who plays will come down to one thing: can you defend the way Geno insists. Q‘s role this past season should be all you need to know. With a very short bench, he didn’t trust her on the defensive end, even if she could have contributed offensively. Can Ziebel stay in front of a quick guard? Can Strong and Jana defend bigs without fouling? We know what the injured upperclassmen can do in terms of defending, but questions remain about the newcomers as well as Ayanna, Ice and Q.

This is true enough. But you have to also keep in mind that Geno doesn’t teach merely one-on-one defense. Yes, can Allie stay in front of a quick guard — if it’s Hannah Hidalgo, the answer is no — but more importantly can she play the switches effectively, get to her spots and not drift into no-man’s land on defense. This is what happened to Q and Ice early on. They improved a lot on this. I suspect there’s more work to go for Q but I am confident she’ll figure it out before February.

Even Ash isn’t quick enough to keep Hannah in front of her one on one. Nika wasn’t either. Maybe KK is, but that’s beside the point. If they play the team concept effectively they don’t have to.